Fujara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The fujara is a large folk shepherd's fipple flute of unique design, originating from Slovakia. It is typically 150-170 cm long, tuned in G (A and F are also available). It has three tone holes located on the lower part of the main body. Even though on almost all fujaras the fundamental frequency can be played,^[1] the normal playing technique is based on overblowing the instrument, and because of its size the overtones create the possibility to play a diatonic scale using only three tone holes. The sound is produced by a fipple on the upper end of the main body of the fujara. The air is led to the fipple by a smaller parallel pipe, called a "vzduchovod," mounted on the main body of the instrument. This smaller parallel pipe enables that the player to reach the three tone holes. The fujara is played standing, with the instrument held vertically, braced usually against the right thigh.

The atypical design provides for a deep, meditative timbre. Ornaments are traditionally added to the base melodies, which usually occur in the mixolydian mode, including characteristic rapid tone scatter sequences, called "prefuk" (a rapid overblow of one note) or "rozfuk" (a descending cascade of overtones at the beginning of a fujara song).

Traditionally, the fujara was played for recreation, usually by shepherds. Today, though, the fujara has moved from the fields to the stage at folklore festivals in Východná and Detva, both in Slovakia. Also, the instrument has left Slovakia and is played all over the world, especially Western Europe and North America. Be this as it may, the fujara has yet to gain popularity or "radio play" outside of Slovakia. It is known, in America and Western Europe, only to somewhat esoteric groups of "native flute" players. Most often this is a solo instrument, but ensembles of two or three fujaras have been known to exist, such as the famous Kubinec Family (Juraj, Martin, and František) or the "Javorová húzva" Fujara Trio: Michal Fiľo, Daniel Mudrák, and Ján Kulfas.

The fujara was included in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, on November 25, 2005.